Easy Card Games for Older Adults: Go Fish

Easy card games are good for health

To keep things fun and engaging, look for easy card games that older adults can play confidently. This boosts self-esteem and happiness. Cards are a perfect activity because they’re inexpensive and you don’t need a lot of energy to play. It’s also great for visitors who aren’t sure how to interact with your older adult.

With Go Fish, finding card pairs and deciding which card to ask for helps your older adult practice thinking, judgement, and decision-making. Shuffling, dealing, and moving the cards around exercises their fingers and hands.

What you’ll need

2 people and a standard deck of playing cards. You can keep the Jokers if you like, those can count as a pair too.

The goal of the game

Make pairs out of the cards in your hand, either by asking the other player for a specific card or by picking up cards from the pile. The player that runs out of cards first, wins.

How to play Go Fish

Deal 5 cards face down to each person.

Put the rest of the cards in a pile in the middle of the table.

Player 1 chooses one of their cards, for example a 7, and asks Player 2 “Do you have a 7?”

If Player 2 has a 7, they give Player 1 that card. Player 1 takes both 7s from their hand and puts them face down. Player 1 gets to go again since they guessed correctly and got a card from Player 2.

If Player 2 does not have a 7, they tell Player 1 to “go fish.” Player 1 take a card from the pile in the middle of the table. Now it’s Player 2’s turn to ask.

Keep going until somebody makes pairs of all the cards in their hand and wins.

Special cards or holder

If poor vision or shaky hands is getting in the way of enjoying a card game, try these inexpensive aids: